thaden



H. V. THADEN CHAIR CONSTRUCTION Nov. 18, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed Feb. 3, 1955 INVENTOR- //5?85?7l .77/A 05 BY W ATTORNEYS IIIII Nov. 18, 1958 H. v. THADEN CHAI'R CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed Feb. 5, 1955 IN VENTOR :zaserxnwrasg,

----a- III--- CHAIR CONSTRUCTION Herbert V. Thaden, High Point, N. C., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Thaden Molding Corporation, High Point,'N. C., a corporation of North Carolina Original No. 2,831,534, dated April 22, 1958, Serial No. 485,898, February 3, 1955. Application for reissue May 28, 1958, Serial No. 738,915

8 Claims. (Cl. 155191) Matter enclosed in heavy brackets appears in the original patent but forms no part of this reissue specification; matter printed in italics indicates the additions made by reissue.

This invention relates to a chair construction and to a method of making chairs which are adapted to manual operation for the production of chairs of individual design and in relatively small numbers if desired. This application is a continuation-in-part of my prior application Ser. No. 355,919 filed May 19, 1953, now Patent No. 2,818,107, granted December 31, 1957.

An object of the invention is to provide a chair the frame of which, excepting the legs i. e. the parts usually referred to as the seat, back and arms, is unitary and therefore free of joints which may become loose during the life of the chair.

A further object of the invention is to provide a method of making the chair frame or body which is adapted to handor manual operation, the shape or design of the body being thus readily variable.

A further object of my invention is to provide a method of securing the upholstery cover to the chair whereby the cover readily may be removed and reapplied for the purpose of cleaning or exchange without damage to the cover as when it is secured to the chair frame or body by.rrieans of nails or tacks.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be described or apparent from the following description of a specific embodiment which is shown by way of illustration in the accompanying drawings in which Fig/1 is an oblique perspective view of the chair,

Fig. 2 is a section through the chair on a plane perpendicular to the floor on which the chair rests and midway between the. front and rear legs,

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2,

Fig. 4 is a section extending inwardly from the edge of the chair body illustrating the method of molding the body and Fig.5 is a section showing how the legs are attached to the body.

-Referring to the drawings, 1 is the chair body, which as will be more fully described hereinafter, is molded of a plurality of layers of fabric such as burlap or fibrous mat impregnated with a synthetic resin, preferably a thermosetting resin. 2, 2, 2, 2 are the four legs of the chair, each leg being formed of three metal rods, said rods.- being secured together at one end, preferably by brazing or welding and the other ends of said three rods being spread apart for attachment to the chair body at separated points. The ends of the rods that are brought together preferably are covered by the rubber feet 3, 3, 3,

3. The spread ends of the rods are bent to extend sub stantially perpendicularly through the body of the chair depending'upon the contour thereof at the points of contact and each end is threaded to receive a nut 4 and a pair of washers 5, 5.

The overall shape of the body 1 is similar to that disclosed in my co-pending application Ser. No. 355,919 filed May 19, 1953, i. e. the back, seat and arms are unithe padding or cushions.

tary and the peripheral edge ofthe seat, arms and back; are turned over to form the continuous groove 6'which.

serves to secure the peripheral edge of the fabric or leather cover and if desired also the peripheral edge of The padding may be any suitable material such as sponge rubber, rubberized hair,'kapok or the like and may be secured in place in any suitable way as for instance by being shaped to form cushions 7,18, 9 and 10 which fit the right arm, the seat, the leftarm and the back respectively of the chair. These cushions may be simply laid in placed and held in place by the cover 11 or they may be secured to the body 1 by means of ad hesive and as illustrated they may be provided with a relatively thin edge which is secured in the groove 6, this last feature being optional. The cushions may be provided with fabric covers such as muslin and the edges of. these covers may be used to secure the cushions in position. 7

The cover 11 is made of a suitable fabricand preferably is made in four suitably shaped pieces sewn together, i. e. separate pieces for each arm, the seat and the back.

The peripheral edges of the cover 11 preferably arev formed with a thickened portion i. e. a hem, bead or jam welt 12 designed to fit tightly into the groove 6. The

inner edges of the four sections of the cover are secured to the chair body by means of a separable slide fastener 13 which extends rearwardly along the seam between the seat section and one arm section, then laterally along the seam between the seat section and the back section and then forwardly along the seam between the seat sec-. tion and the other arm section, half of the fastener beingsecured to the chair'frame as by means of adhesive or,

staples or rivets and the other half being secured tothe seat cover along the seam lines described above. Thus if the cover is of the proper shape and size it will be releasably but securely and snugly held on and in the chair by the slide fastener 13 and the jam welt 12. It is prefer able generally to secure the half of the separable fastener to the frame through a strip of fabric of suitable width which serves not only to position the fastener at a suitable distance from the frame but gives flexibility to the connection between the frame and the cover.

The jam Welt 12 and the groove 6 are so designed that the jam welt 12 may be inserted into and removed from the groove 6 by the fingers alone or with the aid of a blunt tool which will not damage the fabric so that the cover may be removed from the chair, cleaned and re-' I shall now describe the structure of the chair frame or base and a simple method of making it. ,The only. tools required are the form or mould 14 which may be madeof any suitable rigid material such as wood, plastic or metal, the inner and outer shrouds 15 and 16 and the J strip 17. In making a chair base the shroud .15 is laid upon the form 14 and the J strip 17 which may be a separate strip or integral with the edge of the shroud 15 is positioned in the channel or groove 18 which extends along the peripheral edge of the form 14. The layers of fabric e. g. 4 layers of burlap, impregnated with-a heat hardenable synthetic resin are then laid over the shroudthe nipple 19. Atmospheric pressure on the shroud16 has been found to be suflicient to hold the layers of Reissued Nov. is, 1958;

3 Marie tightly together While the resin impregnationis transformed into a thermoset resin by heating. In fact 10 to 12 pounds pressure per, square inch has been found to be adequate and such a pressure is readily attainable Byhi'eaiis fasirhple 'snctiondevi'ce'such as anlaspirator ersueti m purnp.

'- The-resin irhpre natiori -is hardened byheating ihsny suitablem'aiin'er such as by placing the entire assemblylin a heated room or oven. After the syntheticrsinhas heen hafrdened-air is admittedthrongh the nipp1e19, the shroud 16 is stri pedoff, the body-1, together with the J strip 17, are removedfrom the mold and the J-strip i's' rehloVdfrbmthe body. The body "isitlieri in conditi-eii for fur her proes'sing ife. the installation of .the legszz arid half of the slide fastener 13 and. then the padding-cushions 7, 8, 9 and lo'aridhnally the cover 11.- Afte'rjthe rerhovaletthe bodyl from the mould 14 the latterisradyfor the moulding of another body. as dserihed-ah'ove.

"A feature "of my'inventinresides in the formation or the body.- As stated above I have found that two or more layers of 'burlapgive a body of suitable strength but it is apparent that a different fabric such as a fibrous matoradifferent'number of layers of fabric may be used or layers" of different'kinds of fabric may be'used. How-' ever "the outer layer "of fabric i. e. the layer adjacent the outer shroud 15 forms the outer visible surface of the arms and back of the chair and should therefore present an attractive a earance. 'I have foundsuitably colored or dyed burlap to 'provid'ea very attractiveappearance for the exterior of the chair. I have found further that in order to 'give the "outer surface of the chair 'a soft, matte or three dimensional surface, two features. are of prime importance (1) the soft and flexible and compressible texture of the shroud 1'5 '(2). the amount and distribution of the synthetic resin in the fabric layers. I have found that proper distribution of the resin can be accomplished by impregnating only the alternate layers of 't-hefabric. For instance when four layers of fabric are used the outer layer and the third layer may be impregnated with 100% of its Weight of resin ,.whi1e the 's'cond and fourth layers are not impregnated. When the layers are laid up in the mold and the pressure is app1ied,the resin in the impregnated layers migrates into the irriirrrpregnated layers giving an adequate amount of resin in the four layers to bind therh firmly together hire a unitary rigid structure. Theamount of resin s'os'upp'lied islibweverinsufiicient to fill the irregularities in the outer surfaceof the outer layer of fabric and thus produce a smooth outers urface of resin, and as a result the outer surface of the body reveals the texture of the fabric. Thismethod of applying the synthetic resin alsofacilities the removal of air from the structure when the space befvvecii the shrouds is evacuatedfor the purpose of applying-atmospheric pressure to the structure.

The amount of resin to be impre nated into the fabric layers will of course depend to some extentupon' the character of the fabric. As stated, 100% by weight of resin in alternate-layers of the fabric is satisfactory when burlap is the fabric. A smaller ratio of resin to fabric is required when the fabric is less porous. It would be possible of'course to impregnate each layer of fabric with 50% of its weight of resin but this is less convenient iii-practice than the full impregnation of alternate layers.

A The'shrouds 15 and 16 may be made of natural or syn thetic rubber or any other similar flexible and impervious material such as a rubber-like plastic. Rubber has been found to give excellent results with respect to durability,

the'teXture of the molded body surface and ready separability from the molded body.

I claim:

1. chair structure comprising aseat ortion, arm portions" secured to the side edges of the seat'portio and eitteridlrig' upwardly there-near, a back portion" cured .arm and back portions, and means securing said cover Th) to the rear edge of the seat portion'and extending wardly therefrom, the front edge of the seat portion, .the

front and upper edges of the arm portions and the edge of said back portion above said arm portions merging smoothly into each other, said edges having aligned reverse grooves therein to form a continuous groove extending around the periphery of said'structure, and a fabric cover coveringthe seating portion of said chair structure,the peripheral edge of said cover being secured tosaidstructure by means of the continuous. groove.

2. A ch'a'ir structureas defined in claim-1 andfurtlier including a cushioning layer intermediate said chair structhreahd'saideever. p t z 3. A chair "structure as defined in 'c lairil and fiirther including means for securing a portion of said cover to the seat portion of said chair.

4. A chair structure as defined in claim} wherein said securing means consists ofseparable fasteningmeans. 5 A chair structureas defined in claim 4 wherein said separable fastening means is a zipper, onev elementof said zipper being integral in the upper surface of the chair structure along the joints between the arms and back portion of said chair with the seatportion thereof, and the other zipper element being correspondingly sccured to said cover to cooperate with said first zipper element. Q 6. A chair structure comprising a molded integral body having back, seat and arm portions, the connecting portions thereof being' curved and merging into each other with acontinuity of strength, each of said portions having aligned. reverse integral grooves in the outer surfaces thereof to-forrn a continuous groove extendingalong the peripheral edge of said body, a flexible cover 7 covering the'seating surface of thebody, and means for securing said cover to said body comprising a first septa-- 7. A chair structure comprising a molded in'tegrbl body having substantially vertical back and arm portions, The

junctions of the front and upper edges of thearm por tions and the junctions of the upper edges of the arm portions with the upper peripheral edge of the back portion being curved so that the edges merge smoothlvwith each other, the external surfaces 0 said arm and brick portions having a continuous reversed groove therein ad-i jacent the front and upper edges of .the arm portions and the upper peripheral edge of the back portion, a unitdry flexible cover covering the inner surfaces of said or": and back portions, rind means securing the lower portion of said cover to the lower portions of saidarm and back portions, the upper edges of said cover being inserted in said continuous groove to tension thefcover intermedz'ate said securing means and said continuous groove.

8. A chair structure comprising a molded integial b d) having substantially vertical back and arm portions, said back portion partially extending above said arm-portions, the front and the upper edges of the arm portions and the upper edge of the back portion merging smoothly To form a continuously curved upper periphery" of said body, the external surfaces of said arm and back portions having a continuous reversed groove therein adjacent the front and upper edges of the armport'ions and the upper peripheral dge o) the back porftion, d unitary flexible cover covering the inner 'surfiz'c'es by s'uid body comprising first separable fusterieriii'e ns I tegrally secured to the arm and back portions of-s did body bdjizc'n't the lower edges thereof, and corresponding second separable .fastc'n'er means on siiid cover-Juliu- UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,853,579 Sallop Apr. 12, 1932 6 Kellogg July 11, 1933 Braukhof Oct. 15, 1935 Bloomberg Mar. 31, 1942 Crowley Oct. 14, 1947 Arnold June 29, 1948 Kremer et a1. Aug. 2, 1949 Saarinen Feb. 13, 1951 Baptista Sept. 16, 1952 Watrous et a1. Jan. 10, 1956 

